New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to brief the UN Security Council later Monday on the deterioration of living conditions in Zimbabwe, where a cholera epidemic has killed more than 900 people.

The 15-nation council was to hear Ban behind closed doors as is the normal practice for sensitive issues. Last week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the council to take "meaningful action" against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for his leadership in the worsening situation.

British Ambassador John Sawers also called on the council to seek a solution to the plight of Zimbabwean people.

"We want to try to find a common way forward and a solution to this absolutely desperate plight of the Zimbabwean people and a way to put together a government that reflects the genuine will of the Zimbabwean people ahead of the elections in March," Sawers told reporters last week.

The World Health Organization said Monday a total of 978 people have died of cholera and suspected cholera cases had risen to above 18,000, affecting nine of 10 provinces in Zimbabwe. It said half of all cholera cases are located in a suburb of Harare and a further 26 per cent of cases in a town bordering South Africa.

The epidemic has spread to South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique.

WHO said the death rate in Zimbabwe from cholera stood at 5.3 per cent, which was considered high. It said for the disease to be under control, the death rate should be under 1 per cent.

WHO said the main problem in Zimbabwe was the lack of clean water, which aggravated by the interruption of the water supply, overcrowding and the disposal of waste and repair of sewage and sewage blockage in most areas in that country.

In the face of UN warnings of mounting cholera cases, Mugabe claimed his country had gotten rid of the epidemic. (dpa)